If you have ever lived in the south, you’re probably accustomed to the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day for good luck. I can’t recall a New Year that my mom didn’t pop open a can of the black-eyed peas (which are technically beans); even though none of us really like the darn things, we all had to eat at least one. After reading up on the history of the black-eyed pea superstition, I discovered that to enhance your year-long luck you’re actually supposed to eat at least 365 peas. No wonder I haven’t won the lottery yet!!

But how did these little legumes become famous for luck? The Civil War. During the war, the Sherman troops looted southern crops but left these unassuming pea-beans behind, rendering them an important food source for the Confederates. Interesting!

Un-luckily, I could not find any black-eyed peas this year! I guess that is what I get for shopping on December 31. Anyway, I got the next best thing – LUCK’S brand beans. They have to have some kind of lucky power right?

northern beans succumb to southern tradition

Daniel and I had a dollop of the lucky beans yesterday, and another glob today. I’d say they have proven their good fortune so far because: Yesterday I got a job (wahoo!), and today we got the keys to our house. Oh, and we were able to seal incredible deal on that baller Jeep I blogged about yesterday. Jackpot!

The gym was closed for the holiday so we snatched up our keys and took a ride to the house to give it a heavy douse of raid, set our roach traps … and go for a run. We took it easy, clocking a slow 4.5 miles on a flat paved trail about 150 meters from our door.

post-run house arrest

For dinner, I served up a juicy burger on a poi english muffin with havarti cheese, sauteed onions, and some great red pepper mustard my aunt got me for christmas! She knows me so well.

poi bun burger with lucky beans

What is poi anyway? You’re guess is as good as mine. Here’s what I know: Poi is made from the corm (bulbous root-like feature) of the taro plant (potato family). I also found the below excerpt from a somewhat in-depth discussion on the topic of poi.

“Poi is a gentle food, hypoallergenic and easily digestible. It has saved the lives of babies who have been allergic to everything else. Poi is for everyone—from the health-challenged to the super-fit endurance athlete. In fact, many Hawai’i endurance athletes eat poi prior to their athletic events. Huang says a system called The Glycemic Index ranks foods on how they affect our blood sugar levels, measuring how much your blood sugar increases in the two or three hours after eating. Huang says the index shows poi has a very gradual release after consumption, lasting about 4 hours. This means that long-distance runners and other endurance athletes can sustain a higher energy level after eating poi.”

So maybe poi english muffins aren’t the healthiest way to ingest the wholesome hawaiian staple. Here’s why: the muffin package says that they have 150 calories per half muffin. Three hundred calories for one little english muffin! Who can afford those kind of calories on a burger holder? Especially when most english muffins are anywhere from 110-150 calories for the whole thing. The poi one does taste great though! So, anyhow, I am curious about how to prepare and eat the “healthy” corm concoction? By curious, I mean stumped. If you know anything about it – let me know!

Wishing you the luckiest year yet!